Top Fuel racer Doug Kalitta will debut Red Line Oil sponsorship this
weekend at the NHRA Fram Autolite Nationals in Sonoma, Ca., as a celebration
of the company’s 30th anniversary. The thundering 8,000-horsepower,
300-mph Top Fuel Dragster will wear Red Line Oil colors at an event
staged just across the bay from the facility where Red Line Oil is made.

"Infineon Raceway is our home track, so it’s the perfect place to
celebrate our 30th anniversary,” said Tim Kerrigan, president of Red
Line Oil. “This year Kalitta Motorsports is celebrating its 50th
Anniversary, so we’re especially proud to be a part of that. Our
employees, customers, and dealers feel that Doug Kalitta is an
incredible driver with a fantastic record in Sonoma, so he’s the
perfect person to represent our products. It should be a great weekend.”

Matt Hagan never made it past the staging lanes during the second qualifying session for the NHRA 

Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways on Friday because his parachutes suddenly dropped to the ground.

The next day, crew chief Tommy DeLago said the problem, the best he
could tell, was centered in the automatic shut-off system mandated by
the NHRA. DeLago is quick to admit the system definitely adds to the
safety of the race car. He just doesn't know what else would have
caused the chutes to deploy other than a fault with the system.

“It’s a spec system only available from one company,” explained Graham
Light, NHRA Vice President of Competition. “It senses the manifold
burst panel. When the panel opens up, it breaks the wire connection
sending a signal to the device and it simultaneously deploys the
parachutes and shuts the fuel and ignition off.”

Jason Fiorito, President of Pacific Raceways, is surprisingly candid, as track operators go.

He admits what once was a premier facility, originally constructed by
Dan Fiorito, Jr. and his brother Joe, does not currently come close to
being called premier. However, he firmly believes that in time, and
that doesn't mean tomorrow or even next year, Pacific Raceways has the
potential to become not just a premier drag racing facility, but a
premier motorsports facility with two drag strips, a road race course,
a karting track and a 5/16th's mile short track.

As is the case with most track operators, the money spent on a facility
isn't always apparent. Fiorito says his family has spent three million
dollars in improvements, of which only $750,000 can be quickly noted by
those in attendance – the new permanent grandstands. The remainder of
the money was spent on the current track surface to meet NHRA standards.

Shannon Davis, chief designer and owner of Davis Technologies, has
agreed to increase his involvement with Mike Janis Racing Inc. by
entering into a one-race associate sponsorship with Janis for next
weekend’s ADRL NATIONALGUARD.com U.S. Drags II at Virginia Motorsports
Park.

“We couldn’t be happier to have Davis Technologies joining our family
of sponsors,” said team owner and driver Mike Janis. “One of the first
things we did when we decided to run ADRL was call Davis Technologies.
We knew we would be allowed to use one of Davis Technologies’ devices
in the ADRL, but had no idea how it worked or how to use it. Shannon
came to our test sessions and walked us through the ins and outs of his
units and he has been a great help all season. You couldn’t ask for
better product support from a performance company.”

Travis Harvey defeated Darrin Hoyle for the Doorcarpalooza Mad Dawg title at Mooresville Dragway in Mooresville, N.C.

Harvey entered eliminations as the No. 1 qualifier and defeated Sambo
Price, Todd Howard and Hoyle in the final round. He used a 4.12 elapsed
time at 175 miles per hour to secure the victory.

Approximately eleven months earlier Harvey captured his first Mad Dawg title at Mooresville.

Del
Cox Jr. began the year on quite a roll, but a few early exits and poor
qualifying runs over the last three races left many wondering if the
boy wonder had used up all of his beginners luck.

Sunday afternoon Cox proved that luck has nothing to do with it.

Cox put himself right back into championship contention over the
weekend, qualifying first with the fastest lap of the year before
mowing through the Top Fuel field on Sunday to record his second
victory of the season.

“We are back on top of the mountain. Paul Smith is the man, he gave me a great car this weekend,” Cox said.

It was only a matter of time before Dean Goforth put his bright orange GXP in victory lane.

So it should come as no surprise that when Goforth crossed the finish
line Sunday afternoon to claim his first career victory, he would need
a few moments to take it all in.

“We finally got it done. It has taken us three years, but I mean it
feels good,” Goforth said. “Honestly you try hard and things go wrong
and today nothing went wrong. It was just a great day.”

After years of trying Goforth finally got his wish as he managed to
drive around IHRA legend John Montecalvo in the final of Sunday’s MOPAR
Canadian Nationals to claim his first career victory in his second ever
final.

Defending champion Tony Schumacher clinched a spot in the Countdown to One championship playoff and moved into second
place in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series regular-season Top
Fuel points race today with his runner up finish in the 22nd Annual
Northwest Nationals here at Pacific Raceways.

Schumacher, in his sixth-consecutive final round at this race, drove
his U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster to a 3.990-second run at 300 miles per
hour during his final’s loss to points leader Antron Brown, who did the
1,000-foot course in 3.985 seconds at 301.07 mph.

Ron Capps regained a solo hold on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car class points lead at
this weekend's NHRA Northwest Nationals, first by qualifying ahead of
Ashley Force Hood, and then by landing in the semifinals, where he
bowed out to Tim Wilkerson.

Driving the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Funny Car, Capps disposed of Cruz
Pedregon in the opening round of eliminations on a hot and tricky
Pacific Raceways drag strip with a 4.206-second pass at 290.26 mph,
then outran his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman in the
second round using a 4.250/273.33 pass.

Facing Tim Wilkerson in the semifinal round was a tough draw, and he
and crew chief Ed "Ace" McCulloch knew it. As expected, it was a tight
contest, with Wilkerson edging out Capps with a winning 4.243/281.60
lap to Capps' 4.291/284.21.

Jeg Coughlin Jr. has made thousands of passes down the drag strip but
even the five-time world champion and current Pro Stock points leader
wasn't ready for what happened Sunday in his second-round race against
Jason Line at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle.

After beating Larry Morgan with a weekend-best pass of 6.595 at 210.41
mph, Coughlin knew he had the horsepower to give Line a good race. A
good reaction time would also help his cause. It was time to race.

When the lights flashed, Coughlin left with a .024-second reaction time
to Line's .049-second launch. For a fleeting moment, he had a huge
advantage. But as quickly as he left the launch pad, Coughlin's
JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt got way out of shape, swerving to the right,
then the left, before snapping back over the right again.